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Paris, 27 February 2003
Press Release
Nx 12-2003

A step closer to safer aviation in Africa
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Between 24 and 26 February, a number of trial flights into Dakar using 
the EGNOS (European Global Navigation Overlay Service) Test Bed system 
were carried out to show how the planned provision of Global 
Navigation Satellite System (GNSS) services over Central Africa could 
be implemented.

ASECNA (Agence pour la SECurité de la Navigation Aérienne en Afrique 
et à Madagascar) has worked with the European Space Agency, the 
European Commission and various other European partners to make these 
trials possible.

The Africa and Indian Ocean (AFI) States have adopted a three-phase
strategy to implement GNSS for aviation in their region in the 
framework of the International Civil Aviation Organisation (ICAO) 
APIRG (AFI Planning and Implementation Regional Group).

The Dakar trials represent the first experimental test phase for the
introduction of GNSS, which comprises the deployment of mobile EGNOS 
test stations in the AFI region to extend test signal coverage. These 
stations will be used to demonstrate an EGNOS service over the AFI 
land masses.   To provide Approach with Vertical Guidance (APV-1) 
navigation information is a target of the ICAO GNSS strategy and has 
been identified as an application of key importance for safer aviation 
in the region.

The Dakar trials aimed to provide an APV-1 signal in the Dakar area 
and to verify performance in static and dynamic conditions. To this 
end, a portable EGNOS test station was installed at Dakar airport and 
connected to the ESTB (EGNOS System Test Bed) in July last year.

An aeroplane was fitted with Test Bed User Equipment (TBUE) and an 
OEM4 Millennium NovAtel receiver. This equipment gave the pilots 
enhanced navigation information which they used to perform approaches. 
The EGNOS Test Bed Signal In Space provides accurate positioning data 
with very good availability.

This is the first time an ESTB RIMS (Ranging and Integrity Monitoring
Station) has been deployed to test EGNOS services in the sub-Saharan
region. Deploying the Dakar RIMS has been beneficial because it not 
only provides a service in the Dakar region but has enhanced the 
performance of the ESTB in the Mediterranean and further improved that 
of the ESTB in the Canary Islands. This has important implications for 
the provision of EGNOS services outside the European Civil Aviation 
Conference (ECAC) region.

In the framework of the AFI strategy, the first test bed will be 
installed in Central Africa and will be followed by others in Southern 
and Eastern Africa. More extended trials and an associated GNSS 
workshop, planned for May in Yaoundé, are expected to bring together 
all participants in the region and raise awareness of Europe's GNSS.

For more information, please contact:
ESA Media Relations Service
Tel: +33(0)1.53.69.7155	
Fax: +33(0)1.53.69.7690

Apostolia Karamali
Galileo Interim Support Structure (GISS)
Tel:+32(0)2.507.8022
Fax:+32(0)2.507.8001 

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